


Chemistry

by inskuuh



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Angst and Humor, Eventual Romance, F/F, Slow Burn, Strong Female Characters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-02-22 23:43:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23068939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inskuuh/pseuds/inskuuh
Summary: Five people gather together for a scientific research project. What happens when two people from that group have unmistakable chemistry between them but they try to keep it professional? Not difficult to guess that they won't succeed.
Relationships: Evil Queen | Regina Mills/Emma Swan
Comments: 11
Kudos: 59





	1. 1. chapter

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Here is the first chapter of this story. I apologize in advance, the chapter is a bit short and it focuses mostly on just getting things rolling. I promise there will be more interaction in future chapters. English is not my native language, so I apologize for all the mistakes. Also, I'd like to mention that I'm only a student, so the scientific facts might not be correct!!
> 
> Enjoy!

_Emma Swan,_

_Because of your area of expertise, you've been requested to take part in a research project concerning plastic. The idea of this research is to engineer a plastic-eating enzyme but also other ideas and suggestions concerning the subject are welcome. The project will be done in a group of four (not counting different specialists who may consult at times)._

_The research will take place at Stanford University and has been estimated to last at least 3 months. National Science Foundation has funded this project and you will be paid an hourly rate, so you'll also be able to continue your current job if you have one. (Keep in mind that the project will need your contribution, so the minimum hours working together at the university will be 12 hours per week.) If the research will turn out successful, you'll be paid accordingly._

_The project will start on April 1, 2020, at 1 p.m. at Das Lab, Stanford University. In case you're interested in taking part in this project, please confirm your participation to this e-mail by February 29, 2020. If you haven't been in contact by then it will be considered as declination. Also, if you have any further questions, please contact the project manager Mary Margaret Blanchard (this e-mail)._

_Das Lab address: 279 Campus Drive Stanford, CA 94305 Stanford University,_ _The Department of Biochemistry_

_Best regards,_

_Mary Margaret Blanchard_

* * *

Emma stared at the email dumbstruck. She was 27 years old, had gotten a Master's degree in bioengineering a couple of years ago and was now and working toward Ph.D. at UCSF. She was also more than a little surprised that she had been requested to take part in something that could turn out to be pretty big.

The project manager or whoever it was who wanted Emma to be a part of this project must have read her master's thesis about how would engineering enzymes that help destroy harmful materials work in theory. Her professor had been quite proud of it.

Stanford was only about half an hour away from UCSF and because the project required only 12 hours per week working at Stanford, it shouldn't interfere with her classes and taking part in this project would definitely be interesting and would give her valuable experience.

Emma didn't think much more about it before she was already confirming her participation.

* * *

On the first day of April Emma was stepping into the Das Lab, excited to meet the people she'll work with. There was only one person in the lab, sitting on one of the desks and doing something on her phone. She was slim and tall and had brown hair with a red streak on it.

The woman looked up when she heard Emma enter and a wide smile spread on her lips. "Hi. Are you also going to work on this plastic project?"

"Hi and yeah, I am", the blonde nodded as she walked toward the other woman and held her hand out. "Emma Swan, I'm currently studying my Ph.D. in bioengineering."

"I'm Ruby Lucas", the other woman, Ruby, shook her hand. "I'm also studying my Ph.D., but in chemistry."

"Cool", Emma grinned. "It's always interesting to work with someone from another department."

"Agreed. Do you-"

Whatever Ruby was going to say was interrupted by three people entering the room. First came in a pretty short woman with brown hair and she was followed by a pixie-haired, friendly-looking, young woman. The last person to enter the room was an intimating, brown-haired woman who was wearing heels and scowling like she was about to murder someone- and oh crap... Emma knew that woman.

* * *

_"Is this seat taken?" Emma looked up from her almost empty margarita when she heard that deep, husky voice and was met with the most gorgeous brown eyes she had ever seen. She glanced at the empty barstool next to her before smiling. "No, it's not."_

_The mysterious woman had stylishly cut brown hair and was wearing a sexy pantsuit. Emma wasn't even ashamed to admit that she was blatantly checking her out. The other woman sat down and waved at the bartender. "Dry martini. Stirred", she ordered before glancing at Emma's glass. "And another one of what she is having."_

_"That's quite presumptions, wouldn't you say?" Emma asked with raised eyebrows._

_"Well, you seem to be far too interested in me to be leaving now", the other woman gave her a small cocky smirk. "Or am I wrong?"_

_Emma drank the rest of her glass as she examined the other woman. "I guess not. I'm Emma. Emma Swan"_

_"Regina."_

_The bartender brought their drinks and Regina immediately took a generous sip. "So, Miss Swan, what brings you here at this uneventful Thursday evening?" the brunette inquired, surprising Emma with the formal name but oddly enough, Emma liked to hear her name said like that. It sent a pleasant jolt through her body and she forgot for a while that she was supposed to answer._

_"Just to unwind. I've had quite a stressful week. What about you?"_

_"Work... kind of. Things didn't go exactly as planned", Regina grunted with a sour face._

_Emma gave a sympathetic hum. "Do they ever?"_

_"No. Usually not", Regina agreed before looking at Emma with something between curiosity and hunger. "There wouldn't be a chance of you wanting to join me to my apartment and help me to forget those...mishaps, would there?"_

_The blonde swallowed hard. It wasn't the first time she had received such a blatant suggestion by any means, but this was the first time she wasn't disgusted by it. After a while of pondering her options, Emma took a sip of her margarita. "Why not. I could also use some help at taking the mind off things."_

_Regina grinned somewhat wolfishly. "Excellent."_

_Unsurprisingly, the older woman turned out to be a very skilled lover (Emma came seven times!) and the night was something she wouldn't forget for a while, if ever. In the morning Emma had to leave early for a class but she had left her phone number. Regina never called though._

* * *

Emma watched as Regina saw her and recognition flashed in those brown eyes before her face settled into even deeper scowl. The blonde felt simultaneously embarrassed that she had left her number when the other woman didn't want to contact her again and a bit sad that the other woman obviously wasn't happy to see her.

Regina had changed from the last time Emma had seen her. Her hair was longer and she appeared to be overall tenser than before. She seemed older even though it hadn't been more than a bit over a year when they had last seen.

"Excellent, you two are here already", the pixie-haired woman interrupted Emma's thoughts as she walked to the two of them. "Let's start with introductions, shall we?" There was one bigger table in the lab and they all sat around it. The brunette who had first came in sat down next to Ruby and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. Emma's eyebrows rose in surprise and after Ruby noticed the look, she grinned at Emma and mouthed the word 'girlfriend'. Emma didn't have time to mull over their relationship further when the pixie-haired woman started to talk. 

"Alright, I'll start. I'm Mary Margaret, and I'm the project manager. Regina here came up with this whole project but I'm taking care of the practical side of things. You'll see me around probably a lot, but I'm not involved in the research itself."

Regina nodded at Mary Margaret before started to talk. "I'm Regina Mills and I've completed my Ph.D. in biochemistry. Currently, I'm working as a professor here at Stanford University", she started and her voice was as sultry and alluring as Emma remembered. "I chose you three by myself and I was glad to find out that all my first choices were able to join this project. You all are working or studying in a bit different fields because I thought it would be the most useful decision to have a wide range of expertise. I'll let you introduce yourselves before I delve further into the project."

Emma was staring at Regina with curiosity. Regina couldn't be more than a couple of years older than her and to complete her Ph.D. and get a position as a professor at a respected university before the age of 30, she must be extremely talented and hard-working. The blonde was interrupted from her thoughts as the still unnamed brunette started to introduce herself.

"Well, my name is Belle and I have a Master of Bioinformatics. I'm currently working as a bioinformatics programmer, but I might start studying my Ph.D. soon."

Ruby and Emma also introduced themselves and Emma could feel Regina's eyes on her the whole time she talked but refused to look at her and find out what kind of expression she was wearing.

When the introductions had been done, Regina spoke again. "As you know, the idea of this research is to engineer an enzyme that will destroy plastic. We'll plan it out and when it's complete in theory, we'll really start working on it. I'm sure you already have some ideas and questions, but before we fully start the project, I'd like us to establish the days we'll be working here together."

After comparing their schedules and preferences, they came to the result that they'd work three hours on Fridays and four and a half hours on Saturdays and Sundays.

"Now when that's settled, I'd like you to sign these", Mary Margaret announced as she gave them all a contract.

Everyone except Regina read it carefully through and Emma suspected that she had been involved in making this contract. The contract covered the salary, the working hours and the acceptable reasons to withdraw from the project. There was also a non-disclosure agreement attached which wasn't unusual in research projects.

After everyone had signed two copies, one for themselves and one for Mary Margaret, she took the ones intended for her and left with the promise to see them again soon.

"Okay, the first question", Emma started, and everyone turned their eyes on her. "We need something to produce this enzyme, right? Are we going to engineer also some kind of bacteria or cell to produce this particular enzyme or is the idea just to generate them always in the lab? Wouldn't it be easier to just outright create a bacterium that destroys plastic?"

Regina's eyes narrowed. "Well, Miss Swan, bacteria are more complicated to engineer and would take more time. There is also a higher risk of failure since bacteria have quite a high mutation rate and they can obtain some undesirable traits. But yes, it is also important to think about how we will spread these enzymes and we'll think about it when we are at that point of the research."

Something about the tone which Regina used made Emma feel like an idiot, but Regina's words indicated that it was a valid question. The use of her last name brought up some memories and even though Regina wasn't trying to seduce her this time it still sounded as enticing as when they first met.

Emma nodded her understanding as she studied Regina. Suddenly she was hit with a thought that she was glad that she wasn't studying at Stanford because she might be in some of Regina's classes. Even if they hadn't slept together, it would be hard to focus if Regina would turn up wearing sexy heels, tight pencil skirts, and blouses that revealed a hint of cleavage like she was dressed now.

Regina glared at Emma as she noticed her not so subtly checking her out, but her attention focused quickly on Belle as she started to ask the next question.

They discussed how the project would progress and how everyone was expected to use their areas of expertise to help this research. When Ruby asked how Regina had come up with this project, the professor tensed, and her eyes turned cold. "That's personal. All you have to know is that plastic waste is a global problem and I want to do something about it."

Everyone was surprised by the brusque answer but no one questioned it further when they saw Regina staring at them icily. "From this point forward, I'd like to stay away from any personal questions and focus on the project. Other questions?"

No one seemed to have anything to say anymore and Emma wasn't sure if it was only because of Regina's sudden coldness. There was obviously something more and Emma's interest piqued. She wanted to know what made Regina come up with this project and as she more closely thought about it, she simply wanted to know more about Regina. Even though Regina had never called her, Emma still wanted to form some kind of relationship with the woman who was still mostly an enigma. Be it either a friendship or something more.

"Great. I think we're done for the day then. Miss Swan here published a couple of years ago a paper about engineering an enzyme that would destroy harmful material. I'll send the link to you later today and I wish everyone would read it by Friday because we're going to use this paper as a basis for our enzyme. Please, think about it from your point of view because it's a bit different with all of us since we're working in different fields."

It took a while for the words to register to Emma but when they did, her eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open in surprise. "What? Why? I was writing theoretically! There is no guarantee that it actually works. Isn't there something more reliable to use?"

Regina turned her intense gaze to Emma. "I read your paper and didn't find anything wrong with it. As you said, you were writing in theory but what better time to test it than now? It could work or not work in which case we would do the required changes. But you're our bioengineering expert here, so if you think there's something better to use then feel free to tell us."

"I... uh-" Emma's brain was stuck in the prospect that Regina thought her theory could actually work. She shook her head to clear her thoughts before trying again. "No, there hasn't been published anything about this particular topic at least to my knowledge-"

"That's settled then. Unless you don't think that you're proficient enough?" the professor raised her eyebrows challengingly.

Temper flared in Emma as always when someone doubted her abilities. She raised her chin a bit as she stared Regina defiantly in the eyes. "No, I do _not_ think so."

"Excellent", Regina smirked like she had anticipated that kind of reaction. "So, we're all in agreement about this or does someone else something to say?"

Ruby and Belle shook her head as a no as Emma frowned at Regina, realizing that she had been provoked to give an answer the professor was hoping.

When the older woman noticed Emma's frown, she gave the blonde a quick smug grin before starting to look for something from her purse.

The two other occupants of the room were watching curiously this exchange and neither Ruby nor Belle could deny that odd chemistry that Regina and Emma had together.

Regina handed over her business cards that she had dug from her purse to Ruby and Belle with an instruction to contact her if they had any questions. She hesitated for a couple of seconds and looked at Emma calculatingly before giving her one as well.

"For project-related things _only_ ", Regina warned with a lowered tone. Her expression was something between sternness and amusement, and Emma turned bright red at the insinuation. She was not _that_ desperate, and she had enough self-respect not to throw herself at Regina.

Emma was about to tell the brunette just that but opted for a safer choice instead. "What else would I be contacting you for?"

The younger woman couldn't quite suppress the self-satisfied smirk as Regina narrowed her eyes at her. "See you on Friday, _professor_."

At that Emma followed Ruby and Belle out of the lab, leaving Regina to stare after her surprised and mildly impressed, not that she'd admit that to anyone. She had been afraid of how Emma would act but so far, she had been professional. It was too early to say if the fact that they had slept together would impact on their working relationship, but Regina was fairly confident they could work professionally together.

* * *

"So, what did you think?" Ruby asked Emma as they were walking together at the campus. Belle had gone to work, so it was just the two of them.

"About the project? I think it's interesting. I'm eager to start working on it."

"Yeah me too. And what about Doctor Mills? What's your opinion on her?"

Emma coughed awkwardly. "Uhh, I don't know. Probably highly intelligent that one, if she is already a professor... Could be less of a bitch though."

Ruby snorted. "Yeah, she doesn't seem to be planning on making any friends during this project. But... I couldn't help but notice this weird connection between you two", she grinned suggestively.

Emma's eyes widened slightly as her cheeks reddened. "What do you mean?"

"Well... you two were looking at each other a lot when the other one wasn't looking and then when you actually spoke to each other it seemed like you two forgot for a moment that Belle and I were also there. You just kind of went into your own little bubble with your intense gazes and glares and whatnots."

"We didn't make any intense eyes", the blonde mumbled.

"Oh, you totally did. I couldn't quite figure out if you hated each other or had hots for each other", Ruby grinned.

"What?!" Emma shrieked. "I do not have hots for her!"

"Mmhm", the brunette hummed skeptically.

"Yes, she is very, _very_ attractive, I have eyes. But like you said, she obviously wants to keep our relationships professional, so that's what I'm also going to do", the blonde announced, closing the discussion.

Ruby glanced amusedly at her new friend but decided to leave the topic at that. She was willing to bet that something would happen between those two during this project. She should talk with Belle and maybe Mary Margaret, and find out what they were thinking about these two.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A peek into Regina's point of view. The group is starting to get closer... Or are all of them?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story appears to be quite well received. I'm glad that you're liking it! Here's the second chapter, enjoy!

On Friday afternoon Regina was sitting in the lab and grading her students’ papers as she waited for the rest of the project group to show up. She couldn’t focus, though, as a certain blonde disturbed her thoughts. If things had been different, she might have called the other woman back. She felt a connection with Emma that she hadn’t felt with anyone else. But her life had taken a sudden turn after their shared night though and calling the woman back had been the furthest thing in her mind. 

Things were different now. They were working together, and Miss Swan was still as attractive as she had been a year ago. But Regina wanted to keep their relationship professional in order to avoid any difficulties that may arise. Also, she wasn’t sure if she was emotionally capable of handling a relationship or anything else like that just yet. She decided that the best way to go was to stay away from Emma as much as possible. 

“Hi.” 

Regina looked sharply up from her laptop and saw the current subject of her thoughts walking toward her. Emma was wearing black, tight jeans and a white tank top under a hideous, red leather jacket. The older woman had been so deep in thought that she hadn’t heard Emma come in. “Good afternoon, Miss Swan.” 

Emma raised her eyebrows at the formal greeting before sitting down opposite of Regina. “What are you doing?” 

Regina pursed her lips in annoyance. It was going to be hard to stay away if the blonde insisted on initiating a conversation. “Grading papers.” 

“What subject?” 

“Genetic diversity and personalized medicine.” 

“Sounds interesting. Are they any good?” Emma inquired. 

“Certainly a step-up from high schoolers’ papers”, Regina commented as she willed the other woman to shut up in her mind. 

The blonde’s mouth dropped open. “You were also a high school teacher? At what hecking point? Just how old exactly are you?” 

Regina glared at Emma but before she had a chance to say a word, the blonde raised her hands in surrender. “I know you said no personal questions, but I can’t help it. I’m just curious, you don’t seem to be much older than me.” 

“I’m 29 if you must know”, Regina revealed and sounded like it was a chore to give this information. “And I was teaching part-time in a high school as I was studying my Ph.D.” 

“And when did you complete your Ph.D.?” Emma questioned, knowing that she was pushing her luck but couldn’t help herself now when she had a chance to talk to Regina. 

“Almost two years ago”, the professor replied before decided to steel the conversation further away from her. “What about you? At which point of your doctoral studies are you currently?” 

The younger woman could see what the older woman was doing and wondered why Regina was so reluctant to share things about herself. Emma, however, didn’t want to pressure her too much, so she gladly answered the question. “I’m currently refining my thesis into a dissertation. My supervisor thinks that I’m about a year away from my doctorate.” 

“What is your thesis about?” Regina asked, now actually a little bit interested. 

“Stem cells and using them in tissue engineering.” 

“Fascinating. Unfortunately, our project has nothing to do with your thesis, but I hope that you’ll be able to pick up something useful from this project and can apply it to your dissertation.” 

“I’m sure I will”, Emma smiled widely, and Regina noticed how beautiful she looked when she smiled. That caused her to turn her gaze back to the laptop because this was not staying away. 

Before Emma had time to mull over the other woman’s sudden disinterest, Mary Margaret burst into the lab grinning widely. 

“No”, Regina said immediately after taking one look of the incomer. 

“What? Regina, you don’t even know what I’m going to say”, Mary Margaret pouted as Emma watched the exchange curiously. 

“I know you well enough to know that that look means you have an idea. A bad one, usually.” 

“Look, just hear this one out. We should have a bonding night!” 

“A what now?” 

“Bonding night! We’ll go out to get some drinks or whatever we want to do. Get to know each other a bit and then working together would be more comfortable”, the pixie-haired woman explained enthusiastically. 

Regina rolled her eyes. “I’m fine thanks. If the rest of you want to do something, be my guest, but I’m not coming.” 

“Oh, come on! Regina, it’s time for you to come out of your shell for a while. Have some fun.” 

“Mary Margaret”, Regina said warningly and there was something in her tone Emma couldn’t quite put her finger on. 

Mary Margaret’s eyes softened. “Alright then.” 

“But it was a good idea, for once”, the professor admitted. “The rest of you should go.” 

Emma looked at the older woman with furrowed eyebrows. “Why wouldn’t you want to come with us?” 

“Because I have more important stuff to do”, Regina growled, wanting this conversation to end. Emma didn’t have to know about this particular aspect of her life. 

The blonde stared at her perplexed but decided not to press any further, especially as she saw Mary Margaret to subtly shake her head. At that moment Ruby and Belle stepped into the lab and took in the tensed atmosphere. 

“Everything alright here?” Ruby asked hesitantly. 

“Yes, don’t worry about it”, Mary Margaret smiled. 

Regina busied herself with putting away her laptop as Mary Margaret suggested the bonding nigh to the others and they started planning their night out. They decided to go to a nearby bar diner after they were done with the project for today. 

Regina truly didn’t have any desire to go with them, but the conversation made her think about her life. The last time she had really taken time for herself was the night she had met Emma for the first time. She knew she had been overworking herself but couldn’t care less. She _had_ to succeed with this project. 

She was halted out of her thoughts as Mary Margaret asked once more: “Are you _sure_ you don’t want to come?” 

“You aren’t coming?” Belle threw in surprised. 

“No, I’m not”, Regina answered with finality. “Are we ready to get into the project or did you have something else, Mary Margaret?” 

“No”, the pixie-haired woman shook her head and looked at Regina with a soft expression. “Go to save the world, kiddo.” 

Everyone else was looking perturbed by the odd sentence but Regina was staring at Mary Margaret with an unreadable expression. Emma swore she could see her eyes water but then the professor blinked, and it was gone. 

“Thank you”, Regina said quietly. 

Mary Margaret gave her a sad smile before turned her attention to the other occupants of the room who were watching the odd conversation curiously. “See you later tonight!” 

After she left, they delved into the project. Belle had done a preliminary design of the enzyme with computer software which they studied for a long time. 

Ruby, unsurprisingly, had focused on the chemical aspect of engineering the enzyme. “The idea of our enzyme is to decompose the plastic back to the original elements, right? And as we know, different plastics are made in different ways, so at least in the beginning, we should probably choose just one kind of plastic we want to focus on.” 

“Yes, I was thinking the same thing. I think it would be most useful to focus on a polyethylene terephthalate, otherwise known as a PET plastic. It’s harmful and there’s lots of that particular kind of plastic in nature”, Regina said. 

“Well, you’ve been thorough”, Ruby commented as she wrote something on her notepad. 

“I certainly didn’t get my Ph.D. by doing things halfway”, the professor pointed out. “Miss Swan, how hard do you think it will be to change the enzyme’s structure, so it starts decomposing plastic?” 

Emma was studying Regina intensively and it took her a while to realize she had been addressed. “Hard to say. It’s going to be a long road of trial and error, for sure. But with you and Ruby’s knowledge about the chemical aspect and with Belle’s computer skills, I’d say we have a chance to get some kind of plastic-eating enzyme in a few weeks.” 

* * *

After they were done for the day, Regina stayed to finish off her notes as the others filed out of the lab. She noticed that someone had left their notebook on the table and rolled her eyes. This was sensitive information, they wouldn’t want anyone to steal their project, would they? As she stood up to also leave the lab, Mary Margaret came in. “Oh, good, you’re still here.” 

“Yeah, what do you need?” 

“I want to talk to you.” 

“Please don’t say you’re here to try to coax me into coming to this bonding night of yours”, Regina sighed. 

“Look, I know this is important to you”, Mary Margaret started as she motioned around the lab. “I get it, I really do. But-” 

Regina clenched her jaw as she willed her eyes not to water. “I _have_ to do this. For him. I don’t have time to have _fun_.” 

“He wouldn’t want this, Regina. He would want you to be _happy_.” 

“And I will be, once we succeed in this project.” 

“Do you know all of those guys in the books where they’re seeking revenge or something? And they devote pretty much their whole life on that revenge or whatever other cause and then when they are done, they don’t know what to do with their lives anymore. You have to keep living your life!” 

“I am living my life”, the professor snapped. Tears were threatening to fall on her cheeks as she glared at the other woman. “I’m helping people through my work! He would be proud of me.” 

“I know he would. Regina, he would be proud of you no matter what you did. But that doesn’t mean you can’t take time for yourself.” 

Regina exhaled shakily. “This conversation is over.” 

“Alright”, Mary Margaret nodded, knowing not to push her too much. “But... Just think what I said, okay?” 

Regina glared at the younger woman and didn’t bother to answer. 

* * *

Emma was walking back toward the lab as she noticed that she had forgotten her notebook. When she got closer, however, she halted when she heard a conversation going on. 

_“I_ _have_ _to do this_ _._ _F_ _or h_ _im_ _. I don’t have time to have_ _fun_ _.”_

She frowned as she recognized Regina’s voice, and were those tears in her voice that she heard? Emma also recognized Mary Margaret’s voice and stayed outside of the lab, so she wouldn’t interrupt their conversation. 

She felt bad about eavesdropping as she realized that they were talking about something serious. She gathered that Regina had lost someone important to her. She was just about to leave, not wanting to violate her privacy, when she heard the professor to end their discussion. 

She had a few seconds, so Emma quietly took a few steps back. When Regina and Mary Margaret stepped out of the lab, Emma was walking toward them, looking like she had just got there. 

“Hi”, Emma smiled, taking in Regina’s closed off expression and Mary Margaret’s defeated one. “Did you see my notebook?” she asked, pretending that she hadn’t heard anything or didn’t notice anything weird between them. 

“Yes, I took it”, Regina said as she took the notebook from her bag. “You should be more careful. It’s delicate information.” 

Emma took her notebook and smiled. “Yeah, sorry. Won’t happen again.” 

The professor pursed her lips, looking unconvinced but nodded nevertheless. “Sure.” 

All of them continued in different directions, but each one of them was thinking about the conversation that took place a couple of minutes ago. 

“So, what’s Regina’s deal?” Ruby asked. 

Emma, Ruby, Belle, and Mary Margaret were sitting in one of the booths at the diner. Regina had kept her word and hadn’t come but the four of them had a had great time getting to know each other. 

Mary Margaret took a sip of her champagne cocktail before answering. “Regina is... This project is very important to her. And she has never been the most outgoing person. I know she seems maybe a bit... cold, but it’s just a coping mechanism of sorts. Don’t take it personally.” 

“Yeah, no, I don’t. It just seems like she is... detaching herself emotionally. Only time I’ve seen her show some kind of emotion is when she is glaring at Emma.” 

“She’s just protecting her feelings”, Mary Margaret nodded before turned to smile at Emma. “But you’re right, Emma has managed to get several reactions out of her in a couple of hours when others haven’t managed to get anything in months.” 

Emma blushed at the sudden attention and coughed awkwardly. “But it’s only because I-” she cut herself off as she thought about what she should say. She knew that Regina probably didn’t want the others to know about their shared night, and she wasn’t sure if she wanted them to know either. “Because I annoy her.” 

“Whatever you say”, Ruby smirked. “But let me tell you, there’s something different about her when she is interacting with you.” 

“Or then you’re all delusional”, Emma rolled her eyes as she blushed. 

“What was that weird thing you said to her about saving the world?” Belle asked Mary Margaret curiously. 

“Oh... That’s uh, just something someone important to her used to say to her. I think it brings her comfort, so I say that sometimes”, the pixie-haired woman shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal, but Emma could see it was. 

She filed away this little tidbit of information for later as she wondered if this was the same person that Regina had lost. And quite recently at that if the amount of pain in her voice had been anything to judge by. 

“But I want to go back to Emma and Regina for a while. What do _you_ think about her?” Mary Margaret asked Emma grinning. 

“I don’t really know her”, Emma shrugged. “Yes, she is attractive. And yes, I’d like to get to know her. But if she wants to keep things professional, then I’m going to respect that.” Or at least I try to, she added in her head. 

“Even though she’s acting like she wants to keep your relationship professional, it doesn’t mean she necessarily _wants_ to do it. Just saying”, Mary Margaret hummed smiling.

Emma tried not to get her hopes up and kept her expression neutral. “Well, if that’s the case, she can come to me.” 

The pixie-haired woman shook her head. “No, she is trying to push you away. So, _you_ have to push back. Toward her.” 

“Oh, yeah, great idea. Just push back and annoy her until she gets tired of it and throws me out of the project”, the blonde huffed. 

“She can’t actually do that. Annoying group members wasn’t one of the acceptable reasons to withdrawn, so I’m guessing she can’t throw you out because of that either”, Belle interjected helpfully. 

“Alright Cupidos, I think we’re done with this conversation. I’m going to get another drink, does anyone else want anything?” 

Emma memorized what everyone wanted before making her way toward the bar. She was just waiting for the drinks when she heard an unmistakable voice. 

“Dry martini. Stirred.” 

Emma whipped her head to look at the woman next to her. “Regina! You decided to come after all!” 

“For the sake of togetherness and working together as well as possible”, Regina said grumpily, almost like she wanted to be anywhere else but here. 

Emma noticed that Regina had changed her clothes and was now wearing neat black slacks and a burgundy colored, stylish silk blouse. It probably costed more than Emma’s all shirts together. 

She didn’t know what had caused Regina’s change of heart but for some reason, Emma was happy that Regina was here. 

“Well, for what it’s worth, I’m glad you came.” 

Regina studied the younger woman. She was normally good at reading people, but she just couldn’t figure out Emma. What was her angle? 

“So... this brings up some memories, doesn’t it?”, Emma asked awkwardly. She wanted a chance to talk with Regina about what happened between them, and this seemed like a good time. 

The professor raised one of her perfectly sculpted eyebrows. “Indeed.” 

“Do you think we should... uh, talk about it?” 

“No, not really.” 

Emma frowned. “Okay... well can I just ask-” 

“What part of ‘no, we should not talk about it’ you don’t understand, Miss Swan?” Regina asked irritatedly. 

“I’m just trying to have a mature conversation about this!” Emma exclaimed, her temper flaring. 

“Well, stop trying. I don’t want to have this conversation.” 

“Oh my god. You’re really hard to get along with”, the blonde huffed. 

“Me?! You are the one who doesn’t stop bothering me-” Regina started incredulously before she was interrupted. “Oh, man. I wish I had popcorn.” 

Regina and Emma turned to look at Ruby who was leaning against the bar counter and smirking at them. 

“Miss Lucas”, the dark-haired woman greeted with narrowed eyes. “Where did you come from?” 

“I just came to check what took so long with the drinks. Imagine my surprise when I found you two here bickering like an old married couple”, Ruby grinned. 

“We didn’t bicker”, Regina mumbled at the same time as Emma stated that they were nothing like a married couple. 

Ruby nodded knowingly. “Sorry, my bad. I found you two here having a very sophisticated debate about which one of you is harder to get along with. That sounded really interesting exchange though... There seems to be some unresolved _tension_ between you two.” 

Both women blushed furiously and were glaring at Ruby with almost identical looks. 

“But not to worry”, Ruby beamed as she took the drinks from the counter. “This is exactly what the bonding night was about, right? To get rid of the tension, it’s up to you which way you want to do it”, she winked suggestively at them before made her way back to their booth. 

They stared after her for a while before Emma cleared her throat. “There isn’t any tension between us to get rid of, right?” 

“Definitely not”, Regina agreed. “She is just seeing things”, she added before took her drink and followed Ruby. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Riight... not tension at all ;)  
> Thank you for reading and please tell me what you thought :) Oh, and points to anyone who guesses why the project is so important to Regina.  
> \- Iina


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The bonding night might not have been as bad as Regina originally thought. The next day Emma, Ruby, and Belle are in for a surprise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, I'm a bit late with this chapter, but it has been kind of hectic as I've been trying to get used to all these new enactments. Hopefully, you're all safe and remember to take care of yourselves and those close to you :)
> 
> Enjoy!

_“But not to worry”, Ruby beamed as she took the drinks from the counter. “This is exactly what the bonding night was about, right? To get rid of the tension, it’s up to_ _you_ _which way you want to do it”, she winked suggestively at them before made her way back to their booth._

_They stared after her for a while before Emma cleared her throat. “There isn’t any tension between us to get rid of, right?”_

_“Definitely not”, Regina agreed. “She is just seeing things”, she added before took her drink and followed Ruby._

* * *

Emma followed the dark-haired woman and reached the booth just in time to hear the others greeting Regina cheerfully, and Regina telling them not to expect anything in the future gatherings. 

The blonde grinned amusedly as she sat down opposite of Regina because the professor was almost adorable when she was grumpy. Not that she would ever tell that to anyone, especially Regina. 

The evening went on and Regina had also loosened up a bit. She was even smiling at some of the jokes and funny stories the others were telling. She still didn’t participate much though, unless asked a direct question. Everyone was staying away from personal questions if talking with her which she seemed really relieved about. 

That just made Emma more curious about the professor and she found herself wishing that Regina would trust her enough at some point, so she could open up a little. Emma spent most of the night studying the older woman. She hoped that she was being discreet, and since Regina hadn’t glared at her or otherwise expressed that she had noticed Emma’s examination, Emma assumed that she had succeeded. 

What she didn’t know was that Regina had felt Emma’s eyes on her the whole time and was trying very hard not to scowl or snap at the blonde. But the professor had decided to ignore the blonde as much as possible to prove Miss Lucas that there was absolutely not _any_ kind of chemistry between them. 

“Jesus Christ, woman, how many drinks do you have to consume in order to become even a little tipsy?” Emma exclaimed suddenly as she realized that Regina was the only one of the group who didn’t seem to be tipsy at all even though she drank just as much as the rest of them. 

Regina turned her intense eyes at the blonde and Emma was starting to regret that she had opened her mouth. “I can handle my liquor, unlike the rest of you, apparently. And someone has to be the responsible adult here.” 

“I’m really glad that you came here to be the responsible adult, so the rest of us can drink way too much” Mary-Margaret hiccupped as she threw her arm around Regina’s shoulders. 

The professor rolled her eyes at the tipsily chuckling group in the booth but smiled a bit. She had to admit that she was having fun. “I just hope that you have clear minds again tomorrow when it’s time to work on our project.” 

Everyone groaned at the thought of using their brains, but Regina just smirked at them. Despite their current behavior, she knew that these women were, in fact, sensible and competent, and they wouldn’t sabotage the project. 

They talked about random things for a while before deciding that it was time to call it a night. After a bit of asking where everyone was headed, Emma, Mary-Margaret, and Regina decided to share a cab since they were going in the same direction. 

Regina listened as Emma and Mary-Margaret talked animatedly about some TV-show they were both watching until they reached Mary-Margaret’s destination and it was just Regina and Emma. That didn’t stop the slightly intoxicated blonde and now she was babbling to Regina about a cute stray dog that lives close to her apartment. 

The older woman gave little hums of acknowledgment here and there to cover up that she wasn’t listening at all. She was thinking about her life choices and generally about her life. Should she be more social? Did one actually need friends? Regina shook her head to get rid of those thoughts. She would maybe focus on friends after she was done with the project, but now she needed a clear head if she wanted the project to succeed. 

As the cab stopped again Regina looked up to see Emma starting to climb out of the car. Regina looked at the younger woman perplexed as she turned to face Regina and kept her hand up. 

“High five?” Emma suggested grinning. 

The professor looked at the blonde incredulously before realizing that she was probably drunker than originally thought. “Good night, Miss Swan”, Regina simply said, completely ignoring the still raised hand. 

Emma didn’t seem disheartened by Regina’s refusal to give her high five and shrugged. “Alright then. Good night, professor.”

 _Idiot,_ Regina thought with an eye roll as Emma got out of the cab. She tried really hard to convince herself that she hadn’t meant that as a term of endearment. 

* * *

The next day Emma, Ruby, and Belle were entering the lab as they suddenly stopped at the sight that awaited them. There was a young boy, maybe about seven or eight years old, sitting on one of the tables and reading a book that seemed to weigh more than the boy himself. 

“Uhh, hey kid”, Emma said as she cautiously took a step forward. 

The boy glanced up from his book and gave her a calculating look as if considering if she was worthy of an answer. At last, he gave a quiet ‘hey’ before going back to his book. 

Emma couldn’t help the smile that broke on her face because she had never seen someone so young to look so intelligent and _cute_. 

“What are you doing here?” the blonde tried to again. 

The boy sighed and looked up from the book once again. This time she looked at all the three women in the lab before he pursed his lips. “My mom has told me not to talk with strangers.” 

“And that is very good advice”, Belle said as she also stepped further into the lab. “But this is where we work, and usually there aren’t any young children in here.” 

“My mom told me to wait her here.” 

“Okay, who’s your mom?” Emma asked kindly as she glanced at the clock. Where was Regina? She was already a couple of minutes late and she probably wouldn’t appreciate some random kid hanging out in the lab. 

The boy narrowed his eyes. “I’m not telling you.” 

Emma decided to change tactic. “Okay. I’m Emma, what’s your name?” 

“I’m not telling you that either.” 

“Kid, why do you have to be so tricky”, Emma groaned. “We’re just trying to figure out why you’re here, so we can get to work.” 

“You could be spies who try to fish for information about my mom’s super-secret project.” 

The three women chuckled at that, but it was Ruby this time who answered. “Dude, we aren’t spies.” 

“That would be exactly what a spy would say”, the boy stated as he crossed his arms. 

“Wait!” Emma exclaimed as she realized what the boy had said. His mom’s super-secret project? “Are you Regina’s kid?” 

“Yes, Miss Swan, he is”, Regina announced somewhere behind them. 

Emma spun around quickly with wide eyes because the fact that Regina might have a kid hadn’t even crossed her mind. “Wow, I didn’t know you have a kid.” 

“I’d dare to say that there are quite a few things about me that you don’t know”, the dark-haired woman remarked as she walked toward her son. 

“So, these guys aren’t spies?” Henry asked grinning sheepishly. 

Regina chuckled as her face broke into a soft expression with eyes full of love. “No, my prince, they aren’t. These are Emma, Belle and Ruby”, she introduced the women. “And they are working with me on this project.” 

“Sorry that I thought you were spies”, the boy smiled widely. “I’m Henry.” 

All three women greeted the boy, but Emma was still stuck on the soft expression on Regina’s face. She looked so beautiful and Emma was daydreaming about how it would feel like to be on the receiving end of that look. 

“I’m sorry, but Henry’s babysitter canceled in the last minute, so he is going to be here with us today”, Regina explained but there was an annoyed look in her eyes and Emma wondered if it was because things didn’t go her way or if there was something else. 

Henry’s expression also darkened a bit. “What did grandma say?” 

“Oh, that slimy little-” Regina started angrily but stopped abruptly as she realized that her eight years old son and her colleagues were listening. “She denied having anything to do with it but then immediately offered to look after you.” 

The three other women were watching the conversation curiously and as Henry noticed the confused looks, he started to explain. “Grandma is mean to me and my mom, so we don’t see her a lot. She doesn’t like that we don’t need her, so she does bad things so that we would have to go to her.” 

“Alright, that’s enough, Henry”, Regina reprimanded as Henry shared more than she would have been comfortable with. “Let’s get into the project.” 

Henry went back to his book as the others sat around the table and started to retrieve their notepads. Belle also opened the preliminary design she had done previously in case they’d need it at some point as Regina started to talk about the enzyme structure. 

Emma couldn’t focus very well though, as her mind kept going back to the short conversation between Regina and her son. That hadn’t seemed like an ordinary family quarrel. 

“Miss Swan!” 

Emma jolted out of her thoughts and looked guiltily at Regina who was once again glaring at her. “Sorry, what did you say?” 

“Glad to see you finally decided to grace us with your presence”, the professor rolled her eyes. “I said that we should probably gradually start testing the enzyme. Like you said, it could take weeks, and I’d like to get that started.” 

“Okay?” 

The older woman let out an annoyed sigh. “Well, since this is kind of your area, I’m expecting you to take the charge.” 

“What? Me?!” Emma shrieked. 

“Obviously you, you moron”, Regina snapped. “We need you to tell us what you need. An enzyme? What kind of enzyme? What about equipment?” 

Ruby and Belle were watching the exchange half amusedly and half concerned. The blonde, however, wasn’t fazed by Regina’s harsh tone partly because she knew that Regina’s emotions were probably running high at the moment, but also because Regina trusted her to lead this part of the project. 

Logically, Emma knew that of course she should be in charge because this was her area of expertise, but she couldn’t quite wrap her mind around the fact that Regina wanted _her_ to lead. After the first meeting and recognizing the older woman, Emma had done some research about Regina and had discovered that the woman was literally a genius. She had published dozens of insightful and brilliant papers, and she was also listed as one of the most promising young scientists. 

“Uh, Emma? You still here?” It was Ruby this time who interrupted the blonde’s musings. 

“Yeah, yeah, sorry”, Emma grinned at them sheepishly. “Yes, I do need an enzyme, but I don’t know what kind since nothing like this has been done before. I was thinking we should start from something simple and first just separate amylase from saliva. Then we go from there once we know more”, she explained before starting to list the equipment needed starting from an electron microscope and ending with a bunch of computational tools that Belle promised to handle. 

Regina wrote a list of what they needed before examining it carefully. “I’ll probably be able to acquire most of the equipment that already isn’t here by tomorrow but there is a couple of things we need to order. I’ll ask Mary-Margaret about those, but we should get them about in a week, two tops.” 

Emma nodded and they discussed a bit more what they would do next before decided to continue tomorrow. 

As Ruby and Belle left the lab, Emma lingered intentionally, so she’d have a chance to talk to Regina in private. The older woman glanced at her somewhat curiously but apparently didn’t want to talk as she just picked up her things and ushered Henry toward the lab exit. 

“Wait”, Emma called out quickly before they had a chance to leave. 

“Yes?” Regina asked as she turned around to face the blonde again. 

The younger woman took a deep breath and prepared herself for the inevitable scolding. “About what you said today-” 

“Henry, would you wait for me in the hallway?” the dark-haired woman addressed her son, and after he had left with a curious glance toward Emma, Regina groaned exasperatedly. “What do I have to do to get you to leave me alone, Miss Swan?” 

Emma grinned before shrugging. “Sorry, I just don’t see that happening.” 

The professor rolled her eyes but took a couple of steps further into the lab. “Alright then. What about what I said?” 

“I know I’m probably way too inquisitive, but it seemed that you don’t have the best relationship with uh... Henry’s grandmother. Is she your mother or Henry’s father’s?” 

Regina’s eyes flashed angrily at the mention of Henry’s father. “Mine.” 

“Okay, well, you probably would like to talk about it with your friends or someone else more familiar, but... I have my own problems with my family, so if you want to talk-” 

“Thank you, Miss Swan, but I don’t need to talk-” 

Regina was interrupted as someone entered to the lab and both women turned to look at the doorway where Henry stood with an older woman. 

“Regina, dear, how can you leave your son alone at such a big place like this? God knows what could have happened if I hadn’t come”, the woman chastised the professor with a disapproving look. 

Emma watched as Henry scampered toward her mother looking close to terrified. Was this Regina’s mother? 

The blonde’s suspicion was confirmed when Regina wrapped her arms protectively around Henry’s shoulders and glared at the other woman. “Mother, what are you doing here?” 

“To teach you how to be a parent, apparently”, the older woman scoffed. 

The professor tensed and Emma watched as her anger grew, but there was also something else... was that insecurity she saw in Regina’s eyes? 

“Miss Swan, take Henry to the near café”, Regina said as she gently pushed Henry toward the blonde. 

“Mom?” Henry asked quizzically. 

“Go on, show Emma where they serve the best hot cocoa ever”, the dark-haired woman smiled. “I’ll come there soon.” 

The young boy gave her mother an unsure look, but let Emma guide her out of the lab. As they were walking away, they heard the two women start an argument. 

“And now you’re also sending him away with some stranger?” 

“Oh, Miss Swan knows that if she lets something happen to Henry, I _will_ destroy her!” 

Emma winced and suspected that Regina may have said that, so Emma would also receive the obvious warning. “Uh, your mom is kind of scary when she is mad.” 

“I think it’s a family trait. Grandma’s scary too when she is angry.” 

They walked to the café in silence and once they reached it, Emma offered to buy Henry a mug of hot cocoa as they waited for his mom. The blonde ordered one also for herself before they made their way to a table. 

“So, do they always fight like that?” Emma inquired as they had sat down. 

“Yeah”, Henry nodded somberly. “Or if they aren’t fighting then grandma’s criticizing mom about something.” 

Emma frowned. “What do they fight about?” 

“I don’t know. Everything? They fight about me a lot because mom doesn’t want me to be around grandma and my grandma thinks that mom is raising me wrong”, Henry scrunched up his face. “My mom isn’t a bad mother. Sure, she can be strict sometimes but that doesn’t mean she’s a bad mother, right?” 

“Of course not. I don’t know your mom very well nor I know how she is as a mother, but in the short time I’ve seen her with you I could see how much she loves you, and I have no doubt that she’s a wonderful mother”, Emma smiled reassuringly. She felt a bit bad that she was fishing for information from Regina’s kid, so she decided to leave the topic at that. 

They chatted about random things as they waited for Regina and Henry turned in his seat from time to time to see if she was already coming. Each time when he didn’t see her mom, Henry grew more anxious and Emma watched her perturbed. Just what exactly was going on with this family? 

After a couple of more minutes, they heard the telltale click of Regina’s heels approaching, and the two of them lifted their gazes just in time to see Regina sit down on a seat next to Henry. 

“Is everything okay?” Henry asked immediately worried. 

“Yeah, don’t worry about it”, the dark-haired woman reassured her son, but Emma frowned at her. She didn’t look either of them in the eyes and her hair was weirdly covering the left side of her face. Also, Regina’s posture was more slumped than the blonde had ever seen. 

“Mom...” Henry said quietly as he shifted closed and carefully lifted his hand to move the hair away from her face. 

Emma’s eyes widened as she saw the obvious red mark on Regina’s cheek and she kind of wanted to rush out of the café and find the woman who had dared to hurt Regina. Then she made a horrendous realization: Henry knew what was going on. He knew what to look for and that was why he was so anxious to leave her mother alone. How often had this sort of thing happened before?

Regina took Henry’s hand gently and pressed a light kiss on it. “I’m fine, really. I don’t think she is going to bother us anymore.” 

“What did you have to do?” 

“Relax, my prince, I didn’t have to make a deal with the devil. I just lied that there were cameras in the lab and told her that I wouldn’t be afraid of getting a restraining order. I can handle my mother, Henry.” 

“I just don’t like when she hurts you”, Henry said with furrowed eyebrows. 

Regina smiled softly at him but before she answered, she seemed to remember that they weren’t alone and turned to look at Emma who was watching them with wide eyes. 

The professor tensed and sat up straight again. “Miss Swan, I trust you to keep what you saw and heard today to yourself.” 

“Yes, of course”, the younger woman reassured. 

Regina nodded and took in the cocoa mugs. “How much do I owe you?” 

“Nothing. This was on me.” 

The older woman narrowed her eyes in displeasure but nodded again. “Thank you. Are you done, Henry?” 

“Yeah. Thank you, Emma, for the cocoa.” 

“No problem kid”, Emma smiled and watched as they stood up. “And Regina?” 

“Yes?” 

“The offer still stands if you want to talk about it. This...” Emma gestured toward Regina’s face. “Isn’t foreign to me either.” 

A look of understanding crossed in the professor’s eyes before her face settled into a mask of indifference and Emma could almost see the walls around Regina come up once again. “If that was all, we’d like to go home. Goodbye”, the Regina stated before turning around and guiding Henry out of the café. 

“Great”, Emma mumbled and dropped her head to rest on the table. “One step forward, two steps back.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. Please review and tell me what you thought! 
> 
> Does the text look weird to you? Like unnecessary spaces and stuff like that? Because it looks like that for me, and I'm not sure how to fix it, because I don't see them if I try to edit the text.
> 
> \- Iina


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happens when one of Regina's dearest memories is brought to the surface?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello guys! I unfortunately kind of forgot this story during all the covid mess, but I'm back now. I hope everyone is safe and taking care of the people around them. Maybe this will cheer you up a bit if you're quarantined or otherwise.
> 
> Enjoy!

_ " _ _ Dad _ _!"  _ _ Regina _ _ whined as she tried to swat her  _ _ father _ _ 's hand that was ruffling her hair. _

_ Henry  _ _ just laughed but took h _ _ is _ _ hand away. "Sorry, kid _ _ do _ _. What are you working on?" _

" _ I'm doing a science project for the competition at school!" _

" _ Are you going to win?"  _ _ He _ _ asked smiling. _

" _ You know that I can't know it for certain,  _ _ dad _ _ ",  _ _ Regina _ _ rolled her eyes but was also smiling. "That is the plan, though!" _

" _ I know. And I bet you're going to win, you're such a smart kid." _

_ " _ _ Thank you. Don’t tell mom though... she doesn’t like me taking part in these kinds of things. _ _ " _

_ Henry _ _ 's eyes softened. "I _ _ won’t, it’ll be our secret. _ _ " _

_ Regina  _ _ beamed at her  _ _ fa _ _ ther and  _ _ he _ _ ruffled her hair once more. "Alright, I'm going to make some food, and you... Go save the world, kid _ _ do _ _." _

Regina  gasped and shot up to a sitting position. It took her a couple of seconds to figure out it had been just a dream. She was an adult now, sitting on her bed in her own  house with tears streaming down her face. She glanced at the clock and groaned when she saw it was only three in the morning.  Regina sighed and got up, a utomatically going to check on Henry before remembering he was spending a night with a friend.  The professor buried he r head in her hands but soon went to her closet . It was time to do something useful.

* * *

"Where is  Regina ?"  Ruby asked as she paced around the lab.

"I don't know... I can't reach her",  Emma groaned as she put her phone on the table after the third call attempt to  the professor . It had been three weeks since the incident with  Regina 's  mot her and they had managed to make multiple different enzymes but so far none of those had worked. After what Emma had witnessed ,  Regina had been distant and the blonde hasn't tried to push her, opting to give the other woman space she obviously desired.

"It's only been twenty minutes... maybe she just got stuck in the traffic",  Belle tried to appease them.

"I bet you that woman has never been late to anything before",  Emma mumbled as she glanced worriedly at the door. She knew that people were late all the time for various reasonable reasons, but she was still worried. And it annoyed her because she is not supposed to  _ care _ this much. But she does, and it's going to come to bite her in the ass sooner or later.

Suddenly the door to the lab opened, and all three women turned to look at  Regina who was looking more disheveled than any of them had ever seen.  First of all , her hair was a mess. Not in a way that looked like she hadn't brushed it for days, but in a way that seemed like she had run her fingers through  it millions of times. Secondly, she was breathing heavily like she had run there which  Emma assumed she hadn't done in those four-inch heels of hers. And was that a coffee stain on her dark blue blouse?

"Sorry, I know I'm late. I lost a track of time. But I may have worked out something..."  Regina said as she moved further into the lab and dropped the notes she was carrying on the table. "Firstly, any progress?"

"Nope. Nada",  Ruby shook her head.

"Great, well, not great, but I may have figured out something. I was thinking that we must have missed something because we have tried pretty much everything with no signs of progress, right?"

"Right..."

"I know what we have missed. The time! I don't know how we could have been so stupid, how  _ I _ could have been so stupid. It's so simple and yet I didn't think about it until now because we have been focusing on how to get the enzyme working-"

" Regina !"  Emma interrupted  the professor 's rambling. "The point."

"Right, yes. We knew that it was impossible to predict how much the enzyme would accelerate the plastic's own natural decomposition if we managed to change the enzyme structure so it would  actually do that. It can take over a  _ thousand _ years for plastic to decompose. If the enzyme accelerates the decomposition only ten times it would still take a hundred years. Hell, even if the enzyme would quicken the process a hundred times, it would still take  _ years _ to notice."

"Of course",  Ruby frowned. "That makes sense. We assumed that the enzyme would accelerate the process much more, but like you said we have no way of knowing."

"So... do you think we actually succeeded? That one of these..."  Emma motioned toward the sealed Petri dishes containing pieces of plastic and different adapted enzymes. "Is actually working but just slower than we anticipated?"

"Indeed!"  Regina grinned. "And if we can speed up the enzymes' functioning, we can see which one or which ones work and then figure out how to get the enzyme to quicken the decomposition."

"Thank you,  Regina . This kind of stroke of wit was exactly what we needed",  Emma smiled widely. "Even though you look like you've been thinking about this since five a.m. and pushing forward only by five cups of coffee..."

"Try three a.m. and the coffee cups somewhere closer to ten. I lost count after nine a.m."

The blonde furrowed her eyebrows in concern. "Have you eaten anything today?"

Regina  just waved off the other woman's concerns. "What would be the best way to speed up these enzymes' performance?"

"Another enzyme?"  Ruby suggested.

The  professor frowned in thought. "Is it even possible? To use an enzyme to accelerate another enzyme's activity?"

"I don't know",  Ruby admitted. "But I'll research it."

"Right, yes, do that. And I'm going to-"

"You are going to eat",  Emma interrupted sternly. "You have been up since three a.m., have eaten nothing, and have drunk way too much coffee. We can't have you fainting just because you're too stubborn to take care of yourself."

Regina  glared at the blonde but then sighed in defeat. "Fine. Do you want to stay here to do research or go home? We can compare our ideas tomorrow and decide then what's the best way to go about this. Now when we know what the problem is, it's going to be a hell of a lot easier to try to find a solution."

"I think we should go home",  Belle suggested. "You and everyone else as well can take a break and focus on ourselves a bit and then we regroup tomorrow to see what we have come up with."

The professor grimaced at the word 'break' but  nodded nevertheless. "Alright, sounds good to me."

Everyone packed their things and  Ruby and  Belle left the room, already talking about their ideas to accelerate the reaction.

Emma  lingered in the lab once again and cleared her throat awkwardly, hoping this time things would turn out better. "So... since you are in need of food and I'm also rather hungry myself, do you want to go to eat somewhere together? I'm not sure if I trust you to feed yourself if you're alone", she grinned at  Regina .

"If your tactic to get a woman on a date is to insult them, I must advise you to change tactics",  Regina quipped back but she was sporting a small smirk.

"It's not a date! It's only a dinner between colleagues. Unless if you want it to be a date..."  Emma joked with raised eyebrows. Well, mostly joked.

The older woman was quiet for a while and studied  Emma curiously. At last,  she nodded. "Dinner between colleagues sounds nice."

The blonde grinned widely. "Okay then..." she said as she collected the rest of her things. "Shall we?"

Regina  nodded. "Yes. Do you have someplace in mind?"

"Well, I thought we could just go to one of the campus diners but if you have something else in mind, that works too."

"I know one diner that is pretty good where we could go. I get my lunch usually there."

"Lead the way."

The two of them walked the short distance to the diner in silence, both deep in thought.  Emma was thinking if it would be a good idea to bring up their past or if would only drive the other woman away again.  Regina in turn was wondering why the hell the blonde was this persistent. Surely there were tons of other people  Emma should rather spend her time with. Someone who  actually deserved it.

As they stepped into the diner and sat down in an available booth,  the professor groaned. "What I wouldn't give for another cup of coffee."

"Yeah, I think you've had enough for today. Actually, I think you've had enough for the rest of the week",  Emma chuckled as she took a menu from the waitress who had come to them.

"Good afternoon, would you like something to drink?"

"I'll take just water, thank you",  Regina said as she also took the offered menu.

"Yeah, me too."

The waitress nodded. "Do you need some time to decide what you'd like to order?"

"I'm ready if you are",  the dark-haired woman shrugged as she looked at  Emma questioningly.

The blonde quickly looked through the menu quickly before nodding. "Yeah, I'll take the cheeseburger and fries , thanks."

"And I'd like a chicken salad."

The waitress wrote down their orders before promising to bring the water soon.

The two of them were silent for a while before  Regina sighed. "Why are you doing this?"

"Uh... because you have a habit of throwing yourself into work and not taking care of yourself?"

"No, I mean... I've been cold toward you since the beginning. Why are you still being friendly?"

Emma  contemplated her answer for a while. "Because... The night we met, I thought there was something between us. I mean something more than just lust. And it hasn't gone anywhere. I know you've been through a lot lately and I'm not trying to push myself onto you but I'm hoping that we could be friends or something."

"I'm a different person than I was back then."

"I don't think you are. You are just more guarded now", the blonde said before smiling to the waitress who had brought them the water. "But either way, I'd like to get to know you better."

"There is a reason why I've been trying to keep you at arm's length. I'm not in a very good place in my life  at the moment if you hadn't noticed. I'm only going to disappoint you if we try to form some kind of relationship, friendship or otherwise",  Regina tried to make  Emma understand as she took a sip of her water.

"You're being too hard on yourself. I know you're  struggling with some things and I'm not expecting anything from you, I just want to be there for you!"

"I don't even know what that means. I don't do friends... I'm not a people person.  Henry and Mary Margaret are the only person s in my life who I care about, what does that tell you about me?"

"It tells me that you could use a couple of more friends. And I care about you, so I want to be your friend."

Regina  groaned. "And I wish you didn't. Everything would be simpler if you just left me alone."

"Probably",  Emma shrugged. "But where is the fun in that?"

"There is no way to get you to leave me alone, is there?"

"Nope."

The professor narrowed her eyes. "Why can't you understand that you shouldn't waste your time with me?"

"And who I should be 'wasting' my time with then?"

"Someone who isn't such a mess?"

"Is that why you never called me? Because you thought I deserved better?"  Emma inquired, she needed to know. This was the question she had wondered the most.

"No. I would have called  you, I definitely would have if I wasn't informed that particular morning that my  fath er had cancer. I've kept myself busy ever since and a relationship was the last thing in my mind",  Regina sighed as she brought her fingers to massage her temples. Now that she had time to focus on herself, she could feel a splitting headache starting to form.

The blonde frowned. "I'm sorry , is your father alright? "

“Uh, no. He died a  couple of months ago. ”

Emma’s eyes widened as she connected the dots. Regina’s father must be the one she was doing the project for. And obviously, because of who she is, she couldn’t keep her mouth shut. “You are doing this project for him?” She winced immediately when she blurted that out. “I’m sorry. That’s  really personal but I uh... overheard you and Mary Margaret talking the day I forgot my notebook.”

“ Of course you did”, Regina rolled her eyes. “I... yes, I’m doing this for him. He was very passionate about the environment and  did lots of volunteer work cleaning beaches and trying to keep plastic out of the environment.  He was diagnosed with lung cancer and the doctors suspected it had something to do with how much he was exposed to the chemicals from plastic . It was too late at that point to do anything about it.”

“I’m so sorry to hear about that”, Emma said and longed to comfort the other woman but didn’t know how. "It's really admirable what you are doing now and I'm sure he would be really proud of you." 

The dark-haired woman shrugged. "Perhaps.  The timing was really unfortunate s ince I  think there could have been something between us back then because I felt the connection too, and to be honest I still do. But as I said, I've changed and I was barely ready to handle a relationship back then and now  I’m  even less ready , especially  when i t could jeopardize the project", she sighed before turning to thank the waiter who had just brought their food.

Emma  thanked the waiter as well before turned her attention back to the older woman who was already digging into her salad. "I get that but as I said, I just want to be there for you. We can totally forget relationships right now and just focus on the project. You need time to heal and probably think some things through and maybe when you feel ready, we can revisit the dating thing. I just hope you could let me be your friend in the meantime?" the blonde said hopefully. "And if you don't want a relationship after that, that's fine too. I'm perfectly happy with only being friends too."

The professor looked up from her food and eyed the woman across her curiously. Did that great and patient people even exist? "I... I'd like that, but I still feel that I'm only going to let you down. Friendship goes both ways and I doubt I would be a very good friend."

"The fact that you're even worried about that tells me otherwise."

Regina  gave her a small smile and  both of them went back to their food. They spend the rest of the lunch chatting about ordinary things and briefly talking about the project and how they would proceed now.

When they were done, they paid for their own meals before leaving the diner. Both women hesitated when they were supposed to go different ways and  Regina was the first one to say something.

"I know I've been quite difficult to deal with the whole  time but I really appreciate you trying to reach out and not letting anything affect our working relationship. And I'll try not to be so harsh in the future."

"I know",  Emma smiled. "And even if you entered this project wanting to keep a completely professional relationship with everyone, we care about you. We all do because you're a vital part of this team and even though you're kind of a bitch sometimes, you still make everyone feel included and don't act superior to us even though you totally are with your Ph.D. and position as a professor."

Regina rolled her eyes at the word 'bitch ' but a small involuntary smile spread on her face. "Well, to be honest, I've come to care about you all as well."

"I guessed as well. I bet you are secretly a giant teddy bear at heart ."

The professor  scoffed. "Let's not get carried away."

"Okay, not ready to be called a teddy bear, noted",  Emma grinned widely.

The professor shook her head amusedly. "Goodbye, I'll see you tomorrow"

"Yeah, sure! Try to get some sleep tonight, okay?"

"I will. And it was nice eating together like this, I'd like to do it again sometime."

"Me too", the blonde smiled softly.

"Okay, bye then",  Regina grinned before turning to walk to her car.

"Bye!"

* * *

Regina  was smiling the whole time she was driving to her  house but couldn't bother to try to stop it. She was feeling lighter than she had for a long time even though the lack of sleep was catching up with her and the headache had lessened only slightly after lunch.

Maybe she wrong about trying to stay away from the other woman if spending time with  Emma made her feel that good. Maybe she should try to be more outgoing and focus more on enjoying her life besides the shared time with her son when she always felt happy . She knows that's what her  dad would have wanted as well, so maybe after this project, she'd try to change her ways.

The professor was still smiling and deep in thought as she opened the door to her  house and wasn't at all ready for the voice calling out "Finally you're home" from her  living room .

Regina  jumped with fright and dropped her keys before  she remembered that Mary Margaret had promised to pick Henry up from his friend and watch him until she got back .

"Jesus Christ  Mary Margaret ,  no need to scare me to half death ."

T he  pixie -haired woman  walked to the hallway frowning . " What’s got you so deeply in thought, so you don't remember we were here? And why were you late to the project? You’re never late for anything ."

"Glad to know my team is reporting to you about  my goings ",  Regina said as she bent down to pick her keys and put them in the bowl on the counter.

" They just messaged me if I knew where you were since they failed to reach you . And since you didn’t answer your phone, I got worried ."

Regina looked for her phone in her purse and indeed noticed it had run out of battery at some point.  " I’m sorry , I didn’t mean to worry you . I just had a bit of a rough night and went to my office to work on the project on my own and lost track of time . "

" Have you eaten anything? "

" Yes, I went to have lunch with Emma.”

" Emma, huh?” Mary Margaret smirked. “ And since when miss "I'm not here to make friends" is eating lunch together with a colleague?"

"Since we both were hungry and going to eat at the same time", the  dark -haired woman rolled her eyes. " Has Henry been good? "

" He has behaved well, as always and I know you knew that, so d on't change the subject. Are you seriously trying to say that there is nothing between you and  Emma ? Everyone can see the chemistry from miles away."

Regina  sighed as she went to  the living room to say hi to Henry before going to the bathroom to find some painkillers . She wasn't very eager to get into her past with  Emma when she knew  Mary Margaret wouldn't leave it alone. "Look,  Emma is for some reason really persistent on being my friend and there is something about her... I  actually want to be her friend as well. So that's what we are, friends" , Regina called out from the bathroom.

" You’re friends with Emma? " Henry chimed in.

After  downing the pills with a glass of water , the professor walked back to the living room and smiled at her son. “Yes, my little prince, we are.”

" Good. I like her. And no offense mom , but you need more friends. "

The professor rolled her eyes but couldn't help a small smi le. “Maybe I do.”

“Sure,  _ friends _ ”,  Mary Margaret teased. “But for real, I’m happy for you, I know making friends isn’t exactly something you are exactly fond of.  Although, I’m curious... don't you want to be more than friends even a little bit?”

"What I may or may not want is irrelevant when there are other, much bigger things at stake."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, the project comes first. But I  still think you two would be great together " , the pixie-haired woman winked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment if you liked it and I hope I will be able to post the next chapter soon. Take care, everyone!
> 
> \- Iina


End file.
